Conclusion
by LittleSara
Summary: BirdFlash - Rating just to be safe - inspired by the prompt: "mail keeps coming to the wrong address au" [edit] added second chapter "Aftermath" from Wally's POV :)
1. Conclusion

_Wallace West. What a weird name…_

That exactly had been Dick's thoughts when he first read the name. He turned the envelope around to look for the senders name and address. Someone named "M. West" had sent the letter – most likely a relative of this Wallace.

He shook his head and took the letter up to his apartment, for now.

Barely two weeks ago he had moved in to this place. It was just normal to still get mail for the person who lived here before, right?

At least that's what he figured would be the case. Why else would someone put _his_ address on a letter but a wrong name?

Dick didn't know who exactly lived here before however. As far as he knew it could have been anyone from an old gramps up to a small family. Well, Wallace kind of sounded like a gramps name – so this was his guess for now.

Nevertheless, he would send the letter back tomorrow, telling them they used the wrong address. No big deal and nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately it wouldn't end that easily. Just a week later he got another two letters, wrongly delivered to him instead of Mr. West. They were from different senders then last week's mail, though still some of his relatives judging by their last name.

Dick huffed slightly annoyed. He would have to send those back too… he really hoped this wouldn't continue in such an extent. He didn't mind this happening once in a while – and he didn't care about the money he spent on sending some letters back either. But the way to the nearest post office was in the opposite direction of his work. He had to go an extra route just to be nice to some strangers.

Well, those strangers would have to wait for him to want to walk to the post office then. He would just postpone it to his next free day or something.

He slightly regretted this decision three days later when another two letters arrived – from the same senders as the last two ones.

At the same time he started to wonder why the postmen delivered all this mail to him anyways. His mailbox clearly read "R. Grayson" - nothing close to "Wallace" or "West". He should consider talking to the postmen too…

Not wanting to get another bunch of letters he prepared the return mail the same evening and brought them to the post office the next morning. He really hoped this would lessen the wrongly delivered mail.

It didn't though. Or at least not as much as he hoped it would. He got another letter from one of Mr. West's family members and a postcard by the next week. He just grumbled to himself as he threw both on his sitting room table to prepare a return mail immediately.

Seriously, who was this Wallace? Dick never got this many mails by _anyone_. And who still sent that many letters anyways? Hadn't this guy heard of emails or something?

He really has to be an old man - the only reasonable explanation.

Dick sat down on his couch taking a closer look at the postcard. Only now he noticed it had a picture of Gotham City on it. Blinking rapidly he picked the postcard up again.

This was his city! The place he grew up at!

Who would send someone a postcard of Gotham, though?

He turned the card around and looked at the neat handwriting. Curiosity got him and hey, no one would ever know if he read the postcard, right?

He had already started reading anyways…

_Hey Wally!_

_How are you doing? I'm fine. Being back to Gotham is nice and mum is happy to have me around again. My new job is really cool and I met some people from the old days. Do you remember Megan and Connor? The guys we hung out with before College? Well they will visit me this weekend, feel free to join us! They would be happy to see you again._

_Greets,_

_Artemis_

After reading the message Dick registered there wasn't even a full address he could relate to for returning the postcard…not to mention it was already Friday anyways. Even if the mail would have gone to the right address, this Wallace – or Wally – surely wouldn't have been able to come to this meeting.

Who would ask something like that via postcard, for real? Did she even want him to visit too? Most likely not…

He shook his head turning the postcard around again. The picture on the front was really beautiful. It showed one of the nicer parts of Gotham and he could even see his old home in the far back.

It was impossible to return this card, so maybe he should just … keep it…? It felt downright wrong to keep someone else's mail. But on the other hand, it wasn't even that nice of a message. Not to mention he couldn't do much about it anyways. He had no idea where this Artemis lived.

After another two days of thinking about it he finally pinned the postcard to his fridge – next to some other pictures of Gotham and his family. He still felt bad about keeping it for a few weeks though.

The mail did get less over the time, but they never stopped – even after more than half a year. Every now and then he got a mail back telling the sender was sorry for using the wrong address but he barely read those.

They made him be less grumpy about the wrong mail delivering though. By now he didn't even mind the walk to the post office. It almost became some kind of weekly routine and it even made him send some more letters himself. He had to walk to the post office anyways, so why not use it, right?

After the postcard from Artemis he never thought again about talking to the postmen about the issue however. It wasn't like he hoped for more nice postcards or something, but he couldn't deny it got him interested.

He knew by now that "M. West" - from whom he got the first letter - was indeed Mary West: Wally's mother. Also he found out this Wally wasn't an old man but barely a few years older than himself. He didn't know an exact age but out of all the info he gathered he couldn't be older than 21 or 22.

All together he had gotten another 4 postcards, 3 of them he could return, but the other one was now pinned to his fridge too. It didn't show Gotham, unfortunately.

He was able to return some of the postcards mostly thanks to his good memory. He knew he had heard the names of the senders before and got most of their addresses memorized by then too. Just in case he started to write them all down after a few months and was quite happy about this decision later on. He wouldn't have been able to return postcard number 4 else.

Nevertheless it got him quite confused when the same people continued to send Wallace's mail to his address. Shouldn't they know the correct address after a while?

He guessed that maybe they had very similar addresses and people tend to misspell something or get the numbers wrong. He checked his whole apartment block and even the closer neighborhood for someone named "West". But he only found an old Lady that had never heard of someone named Wally or Wallace or whatever.

Now, after half a year, Dick was really tempted to meet this Wally and find out what kind of guy he was. He didn't even know what he looked like, but this whole getting-to-know-someone-through-wrongly-delivered-mail-thingy really had gotten him. He was interested in this stranger…or was he even still a stranger? He knew a few things about him by now after all. What he didn't know however was Wally's correct address.

He already considered to simply ask Mary West about it. Just to deliver the mail to the correct address, of course! But in the end it didn't feel right. It felt like cheating. He would have to figure it out on his own or it wouldn't be the same.

And he had a feeling he would find out quite soon.

Just today he had received another postcard from this Artemis. She hadn't sent any other mail until now and again there was only her first name. He recognized the neat handwriting at once however. He probably had read the first postcard a hundred times…

_Wally,_

_As you tend to not to reply to my texts – and I suppose you got your phone broken again, didn't you? – I want to remind you about the Christmas party with everyone. Connor said he'd punch you in the face if you don't show up again…and hey, I know you don't want to see me. I don't want to see you either. Do it for the others, okay?_

_19th December – 6 p.m._

_Central City, the café next to the City Hall you like oh so much_

_Artemis_

The postcard was much simpler this time. It pictured Wayne Enterprise and he was quite sure this card was for free – simply for advertisement.

Nevertheless it made him smile.

On top of that he now had the best possible opportunity to meet Wally. He would just take the 19th off and check every café close to Central's City Hall for a group of people his age celebrating an early Christmas. This couldn't be that difficult, could it?

Knowing his bad luck about situations like that it probably could.

To his own surprise it wasn't. There were only two cafés near the City Hall so he decided to just sit in one of them and wait for 6 p.m. He was about an hour early but just when he got his second coffee a blonde girl with a long ponytail and a dark skinned man with short white-blonde hair entered the shop. He could hear them talking to the waiter about a reservation for 6 p.m. and he couldn't hold back a grin. This had to be them! Maybe this girl even was Artemis….she totally looked like an Artemis.

The waiter led them to a big table in the back and they sat down – most likely waiting for their friends. And Wally.

He really hoped Wally would show up. Maybe this dark skinned man was already Wally…?

Should he get closer to them so he could eavesdrop? He wasn't interested in their conversations but how else would he find out their names?

If he was lucky they would call out to anyone new arriving and he could hear them without acting suspicious. He decided to stay where he was - for now - hoping there would be no need to move to a closer table.

Time passed and Dick drank coffee after coffee being 'very engrossed' in reading his book. Apparently he could hear them talking quite well and didn't need to worry about being caught at all.

Quite a few new people had shown up by now and he was right – the blonde girl was Artemis. The guy she arrived with was named Kaldur or something however. He was her boyfriend as far as he could tell.

This Megan and Connor he had heard about were present too. And a few other people whose names he already had forgotten. But the most important person was still missing.

As he noticed, Wally's friends were wondering where he was, too. He didn't understand everything they said but especially Artemis spoke up louder than necessary quite a lot. She sounded seriously annoyed when she proclaimed that yes, she had reminded him of their meeting, and that it wasn't her fault if he didn't show up.

Well, if she would have used the right address this might have been true.

It was already 7.30 p.m. and all his hopes of finally meeting Wally were gone when he detected a red-haired man outside the café. The man looked straight at the group of friends, as they laughed together and had a great time. He didn't look happy himself though.

Dick could just stare at the redhead and his heartbeat sped up, overly excited. This guy had to be Wally! Why else would he stand out there watching the group of friends?

He surely had to be Wally!

Suddenly the ginger registered Dick staring at him. He looked surprised, then startled and a bit embarrassed. He turned and already was about to run away when Dick got up and shook his arms eagerly to get probably-Wally's attention. The other really stopped in his movement and looked back at him – quite confused.

'Wait!' Dick mouthed – quickly turning around to make sure they didn't caught anyone else's attention. They didn't.

'Please, Wait!' he mouthed again but the ginger just shook his head slowly looking even more confused and started to walk away again. Dick huffed in annoyance and quickly packed his book. He ran up to the waiter and paid for his coffees – not even waiting for the change.

As he exited the café the redhead had already crossed the street. Dick ran after him almost getting hit by a car. But he couldn't care less.

The ginger had stopped when he heard the car honking and Dick could catch up to him.

He stopped in front of him, slightly out of breath. He looked the other straight in the eyes – astonishing green eyes as he saw now.

"You… you are Wally, right?" he asked carefully. He begged he was right. That he didn't just ran after a random stranger that happened to look through a widow at the wrong time. That he didn't misunderstand all this. That-

"Uhm…yes…?" was the confused reply and Dick's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't help the smile forming on his face or the happiness bobbing up inside him. Wally looked a bit scared by now so he tried to keep his excitement down.

"I have something for you," he started and smiling widely he handed the redhead the 3 postcards. He took them blinking in confusion while Dick continued to explain. "I got some of your mail over the last half a year. Most of it I could send back to whoever wrote it. But, well … not those three, obviously."

Wally looked back at him for a moment then he turned the postcards around and read them. The first two where Artemis' cards and he looked unnaturally emotionless while reading them. After the third card he smiled a little bit however. Dick always liked reading this card too. He maybe didn't know the sender, but the text just shouted out how much the writer cared and wanted Wally to smile and cheer up.

"Well, thanks…I guess", Wally finally replied and smiled at him politely. Dick gulped nervously. He wanted to keep this conversation going! He wanted to know more about Wally, wanted to be his friend, too!

"Sorry for those rude cards from Artemis. I really thought about not giving them to you…but it felt wrong to just keep them. They are yours after all…" he babbled on. It wasn't like him to just talk to someone he just met like that. But Wally didn't feel like a stranger. It felt way more like they had known each other since _forever_.

The ginger just laughed, looking seriously a bit amused and not at all confused or scared anymore.

"You can keep them if you want to," he said and offered the two postcards back. Dick took them slowly and very unsure but still kind of happy to be able to keep those cards.

"Are you sure? The picture on this one is really good."

But Wally just nodded.

"Yeah, it's better this way. I'd just trash them."

Slowly they started to walk on next to each other while Dick put his cards back into his bag.

"Trashing such a nice picture of Gotham, tsk. That really would have been a shame," Dick said, only half serious.

"Not considering who sent the postcard it's on…"

Wally smiled at him sideways, sounding way sadder than his face showed.

He nodded in return, understanding.

"She…she's your ex, right?"

The other just nodded as well.

They stayed quiet for a bit. Dick didn't want to pry any further. It was obvious anyways. Wally knew about her new boyfriend. He didn't want to see them together. He probably still wasn't over the whole break up. And most likely it was his reason to move to another city then her.

Suddenly Wally started to laugh quietly. He looked at him in confusion.

"You know. It's kinda funny and creepy at the same time how you know like everything about me and I don't even know your name," he explained cheerfully. Dick couldn't help a smile himself.

"I don't know _everything _about you. I didn't even know what you look like a few minutes ago!" he defended himself. Wally just laughed in return.

"But… I wouldn't mind knowing more about you," Dick continued more seriously, while smiling straight at the ginger.

"If that includes me getting to know you better, too," Wally replied in a half-hearted flirting attempt that made Dick laugh as well.

"Maybe," he said and laughed even louder as the other looked at him in an obviously fake sulking manner.

"I'm Dick. Dick Grayson."

He offered his hand and Wally took it without any hesitation and shook it.

All of a sudden he froze, stopping both of them from walking on.

"Wait," the ginger started, his eyes widening in surprise. "Dick, like, in short for Richard?"

Dick nodded slowly in return.

"Yeah, why?"

"I was getting some of your mail too, dude!"

* * *

><p><em>First of all: Thank you for reading! :D<em>

_I just edited this story slightly (not plot-wise, only some typos and weird grammar) but I wanted to use it to finally write a small note!_

_I got way more feedback to this then I ever expected and it made me really, _really_ happy, because I love this story and had lot's of fun writing it! ;/; Thank you so, so much for your comments and kudos! I highly appreciate it!_

_Secondary: Literally everyone asked for more. So I can proudly announce: There will be more! ;3_

_I actually just finished the sequel/sister story from Wally's POV. I will re-read it a few times now and a friend is betaing it too, so hopefully it is ready to be published soon! Just be a bit more patient with me, okay? I'm trying really hard to make this a good story, too!_

_Thank you again and read you soon! :D_

_Sara~_


	2. Aftermath

_[edit] Beta 1.2 aka. thanks for betaing this a second time, Naryu! idk what I'd do without you! ;_;_

_On another note: Always feel free to tell me about mistakes in my stories! I'm not native and one of my reasons for writing is to improve my language skills! ;)_

* * *

><p>They had been the perfect couple. At least that's what everyone said. That's what everyone saw.<p>

But the truth had been something entire different.

Not always, of course.

When they started dating – how long ago was it again? Five years? Six maybe? – they had loved each other. They had enjoyed spending all their free time together. He had traveled all the way to Gotham every other weekend and as they finally started college and moved in together everything seemed perfect.

Everyone had thought they would marry sooner or later and get old together. Even he himself had believed it.

But they'd been wrong.

He watched Artemis carrying the last box – filled with clothes and some books – outside of their flat. Or well, their former flat.

He had started packing too. He'd have to move out himself in a week or two. But until now he hadn't really registered it was over. That they had broken up and would move to different cities and…

It suddenly had hit him – the finality of the moment.

Where had they gone wrong? What had happened?

He didn't know.

All he knew was that he didn't want it to be over.

The last weeks had been so calm and awkwardly easy. After their last and final argument, after they had agreed it was better to go separated ways from now on everything had been so much better. He felt simply relieved. It had been as if all the pressure and stress was gone. And they had talked to each other so… so _naturally_. There was nothing to argue about, there was nothing to be mad at each other about. They had been _free_.

And they had been able to laugh together again.

It was almost like the first years of their relationship…or maybe more like the time when they had simply been friends and slowly fell for each other.

Wally liked it. Suddenly he liked to live with her again. He even considered trying to date again. Maybe it wasn't too late yet?

But Artemis didn't think the same. She was okay with staying friends and keeping contact but nothing more. No matter what he said, she moved out – back to Gotham – and he had to go on by himself.

He got a new job and apartment in Blüdhaven. It sounded stupid – he even thought so himself - but he didn't want to live too far away from her and still not in the same city. He liked to be able to visit her – just in case. He didn't want to risk running into her all the time however.

So as she said goodbye he could smile at her – sincerely. Knowing – hoping – they would see each other sooner or later. And maybe get a second chance.

Reality was quite the opposite though.

After he moved to Blüdhaven he instantly had a lot of work. He was the new guy and apparently that meant he had to do all the work no one else wanted to do.

In the end he barely noticed that he hadn't talked to Artemis at all after he'd moved. As he noticed he wanted to wait for her to contact him. He felt like she might need some time to herself. If he was honest with himself he knew he was also a bit scared of texting or calling her…and getting no reply or something.

A week after a meet-up in Gotham – a final chance to see her again after two months – she just asked why he didn't show up. Apparently she had sent him a postcard about it and Wally just never got it. When he asked why she didn't just text him or called him about it she got angry and stopped replying soon.

It was that day that he realized there was no future for them. That Artemis _really_ didn't want such a future.

To him it felt like breaking up all over again.

He felt more broken then after their first – _real_ – break-up. And suddenly he was grateful for all the work, because it was a perfect distraction.

Somehow over the next few months he got used to living alone. He talked to Artemis ever now and then, but the more time passed the less they had to talk about. She wasn't interested in his new life and she didn't want to talk about herself either.

Somewhere on the way he started to feel the same. He started to be okay again and even tried to date some girls he met at work.

However he couldn't stop comparing them with Artemis and after a while he had to admit: It was still too early. He couldn't fall for someone else. Not yet.

It didn't stop him from flirting with every other girl he met though. He always had been a flirt. Artemis had always complained about it.

It was one of the few good things about not having her around anymore. She couldn't complain about his – obviously meaningless – flirting attempts.

Wally was sure he would meet someone really exiting soon. Someone he could fall in love with and finally forget about his ex.

If he would have been more attentive, he would have noticed this _someone_ entering his life a lot sooner.

It started about a month after he missed the meeting in Gotham. Wally had a letter in his mailbox that wasn't addressed to him. Well to his address, but not him in person.

"Richard Grayson" was printed on the envelope.

Somehow the name sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't quite remember why. Nevertheless he just brought the letter back to the post office, telling them the letter was wrongly delivered to him.

The old lady working at the counter apologized politely but didn't look concerned at all. If anything Wally wouldn't even be surprised if she just trashed the letter.

But that wasn't his responsibility, right? It was weird enough, that he got this guy's mail anyway. And hey, it was just one letter. Who cared?

Surprisingly enough it didn't stop after this one letter.

Wally felt torn. On one side he didn't want to bring the letter to the post office again. Who knew if they really just trashed it? This poor guy didn't even know he was missing some of his mail!

On the other hand he already had enough to do and worry about right now. He really didn't have the time for this. And surely he didn't have the money to send the letters back on his own account.

His mum and aunt already wrote him all those letters and expected him to reply…he didn't even like writing letters, but they insisted that he had to write back.

He knew they just wanted to distract him and cheer him up in their own stupid way. But most of the time it only annoyed him.

It was around this time that his aunt mentioned in one of her letters something interesting. Apparently she sometimes had sent his letters to a wrong address, too. She just wanted to apologize that her replies took a lot longer to get to him because of this – not that Wally was really sad about that. But it got him a bit curious.

If he got someone else's mail, maybe that person got his mail as well…?

He asked his aunt about it and about this other guy's address. And he was right. It was Richard Grayson.

Their addresses were astonishingly equal. Only two numbers in the zip code alternated and a bad handwriting were enough to get the mail wrongly delivered. Well, and most likely postman that didn't care about the name on the letter.

Still this guy lived further away from him then he had hoped.

His plan had been to walk there or something and dump the letters into his mailbox. But he would have to go half an hour by subway to get there…he surely wouldn't do this too often.

In the end he didn't go to Grayson's mailbox before December. He felt a bit bad about it, but his work didn't allow much free time, and most of the time he was just happy to relax and lay back whenever he could.

He had a small box filled with letters by now - about ten to fifteen. He intended to deliver them before Christmas at least.

He had taken a few days off at the end of December anyway. On the 19th would be a Christmas party with his friends. He would see Artemis again - after more than half a year.

Wally didn't know how to feel about it, but he was excited no matter what he tried.

Well, at least until Megan – one of their friends who told him about the party in the first place – delightedly started to talk about Artemis' new boyfriend. Megan didn't know he still wasn't completely over it, certainly. And she didn't know that _he_ didn't know about said new boyfriend either.

Wally suddenly didn't know what to say. Or what to think.

He lied that his break was over and he had to hang up. He said he was looking forward to see all of them again – what wasn't entirely a lie – and quickly ended the call.

But surely Megan had noticed his discomfort. She always had been good at reading people.

It wasn't a surprise when Artemis called him later that day and … tried to explain. She didn't sound apologetically though. No, she sounded way more annoyed and angry.

Wally just listened and barely said anything through the whole call. What should he have said anyways?

It wasn't as if there was a need for her to explain anything. They had broken up half a year ago. It was just natural to be with someone else by now. The only wrong thing about all this was Artemis not telling Wally about it herself.

Mainly he just wished he would have a new girlfriend, too. This whole conversation would have been so much easier if he had.

But he wasn't in a new relationship. He wasn't over the break-up. He still wasn't ready to.

And Artemis _knew_ - he was sure about that.

She wasn't even singularly angry at him about that. Most likely she was angry at herself too, because she knew she was hurting him and she couldn't do anything about it.

They had been in a relationship for so long; they knew each other for even longer. Neither of them could just stop caring. She simply cared in another way by now and Wally was still stuck somewhere on the way.

He wasn't so certain about attending this party anymore.

Sure enough he didn't want to meet her new boyfriend.

In the end he was in Central anyways and just couldn't stay at home.

Earlier he'd used the fact that he had to go to the city center of Blüdhaven to finally dump all the letters into Grayson's mailbox – oh man, this guy lived in such an expensive looking apartment block! How could this guy afford that? He had to be _rich_!

Afterwards he took the train to Central. He would visit his family over the following week. He hadn't been in Central since he moved to Blüdhaven, and they were really happy when he told them he would come over for Christmas.

Wally wasn't even sure about going to the Christmas party when he arrived in Central City. He went to his parent's place first to dump his bags but no one was home yet. He still had his own key to the house so this wasn't a problem in general. But he got bored - really, really bored. It was impossible to think of anything else then Artemis and her new boyfriend and he just couldn't stand it.

He left for the city center - walking there to waste some more time. He still wasn't sure what to do.

On one side he felt bad for not showing up. He knew some of his friends really wanted to see him and talk to him. He hadn't seen some of them in _years_.

On the other had he was so…frightened. He just didn't know how to deal with this kind of situation.

He reached the café near the City Hall around 7.30 p.m. and…he just couldn't bring himself to go inside. Instead he walked up to the big window side.

It was really easy to look inside thanks to the darkness outside.

It was even easier to spot the group of his friends.

Everyone looked so happy. _Artemis _looked so happy.

Wally hadn't seen her like this in a long time.

The guy next to her had his arm around her shoulder and barely looked at anyone else then her. He smiled the whole time and…just looked like a really nice guy. And like he truly loved and cared about her.

To his own surprise, he wasn't as mad as he thought he would be and he wasn't even all that sad. He was glad to see she was fine and enjoying her life - although it happened without him.

But mostly he felt strangely numb. Seeing her again after all this time and seeing how truly happy she was – that she really had moved on – was weird and put some kind of finality to it he couldn't quite describe.

Suddenly Wally noticed a guy – about his age – sitting close to the windows and staring right back at him.

Just now he got aware of how bad he must look right now. Standing out there and watching some people in a café like that. He felt really awkward about being caught staring and wanted to get away quickly. But when the guy suddenly stood up and shook his arms eagerly he stopped and turned back slightly.

The other mouthed something - but Wally never had been good at lip-reading. It only confused him and he wanted to leave even more.

Then the guy looked around quickly – what for? – and mouthed something again.

Wally still didn't understand what was going on, but he knew for sure he didn't know this guy. He shook his head no and retreated quickly. This was getting too awkward anyway.

He waited for a car to pass by and crossed the street. He wasn't capable of entering the café in any case, so he would get to the next tram stop and go home. Before he could walk away all too far however, he suddenly heard a car honking behind him.

Wally stopped and turned around in surprise – only to see the stranger from the café running up to him. Did this guy just almost get hit by a car only to follow him…? What the-

"You… you are Wally, right?" the guy asked carefully.

If he was confused before he didn't know how to explain his level of confusion right now. How could this guy know his name? Wally took a closer look at him. He had short black hair, bright blue eyes and Wally was barely taller than him. Nope, he was sure he had never met him before.

He considered not answering and just running off for a second but the other looked so hopeful and unsure at the same time that Wally couldn't do it. Although he kind of wanted to know what was going on.

"Uhm…yes…?" he finally replied still sounding as puzzled as he felt. The other's face lit up immediately. He looked so overly excited that Wally felt even more put off and slightly scared. Why was this guy so happy to meet him…?

"I have something for you," the ebony said and handed Wally a few postcards, smiling widely all the time. He took them utterly perplexed and blinking accordingly. He spread them in his hands and looked at their fronts while the other continued to explain. "I got some of your mail over the last half a year. Most of it I could send back to whoever wrote it. But, well … not those three, obviously."

He looked up for a short moment searching the other's face for any hints that this was just some stupid prank or whatever. But he only smiled at Wally happily.

Not hesitating any further he turned the postcards around and started to read.

The first one was from Artemis and it actually told him about a meeting with his friends in Gotham months ago. Wally had highly doubted by now this postcard ever existed. It didn't lighten his mood to get this card right now though.

The second one was from Artemis too but only a few weeks old. Artemis must have sent this card about a week after Wally found out about her new boyfriend. He hadn't replied to any of her texts and – to be fair – his phone had been turned off most of the time since then. It was just natural she accused him he'd have broken it. But no, it wasn't broken at all. And Wally was quite sure Artemis knew that. He could almost see her air-quoting the _"you got your phone "broken" again, didn't you?_" statement.

Not to mention the whole message sounded so very annoyed. He just tried not to think about it and hoped the last card was not from Artemis. Luckily it wasn't.

_Wally, do you remember this chick I mentioned like, a few times lately? Okay, okay, the chick I won't shut up about and totally wanna bang. Well, I was so drunk on the party last Saturday I accidentally puked on her. She refuses to talk to me now. What a shame, right? :(_

_You should have puked on you-know-who too - she would have deserved it anyway. Oh wait, I forgot. You did that a few years ago already, nevermind. :D_

_Call me, dude. Bros for life, through puke accidents and everything, okay?_

_Red Arrow_

Wally actually had to smile after reading the message -especially about Roy calling himself by this stupid nickname. He really should call him more often. Honestly, he had been afraid to annoy his friend with his moods and whining. But of course Roy would have dealt with it all the way through.

Well, to be fair, Wally had called him a few times – even without getting the postcard in time – and Roy had been a big help. Knowing now that he had even offered his help in such an open way made him quite happy nonetheless.

"Well, thanks…I guess", he finally replied and directed his smile to the stranger. He felt less awkward about this whole situation by now - but still not quite comfortable. A complete stranger just ran after him simply to hand him a bunch of postcards. Not to mention said stranger looked at him like he had wanted to meet him for ages.

Actually, Wally couldn't remember when the last time was someone looked so happy to see him…

"Sorry for those rude cards from Artemis," the other babbled on. "I really thought about not giving them to you…but it felt wrong to just keep them. They are yours after all…" It was surprisingly obvious how much he wanted to keep talking to him. He looked so excited and nervous.

Wally couldn't hold back a small laughter. He started to like this guy – and seriously it wasn't hard to tell the other was really nice and cared about him.

Someone he never met before, who knew him only due to a bunch of postcards, cared more about him than the girl he wanted to care the most. Life could be very amusing sometimes.

"You can keep them if you want to," Wally said and held out the two postcards. He surely wouldn't give away Roy's card, but he couldn't care less about the ones from Artemis right now. His mood was finally lighting up a bit. He wouldn't waste this by thinking about _her_.

The ebony took the cards looking straight at Wally, unsurely.

"Are you sure? The picture on this one is really good," he asked to make sure it was really okay. Wally just smiled back and nodded shortly.

"Yeah, it's better this way. I'd just trash them."

He didn't even bother lying. He would have dumped them in the next best trashcan. If the other really wanted to keep them though, he certainly could.

Slowly Wally turned to move on to the tram stop – he still didn't feel like walking back home all the way. One way was definitely enough.

The other followed him and walked up beside him. He looked at Wally inquiringly – obviously wanting to make sure it was okay to walk with him. He smiled reassuringly at the ebony in return.

"Trashing such a nice picture of Gotham, tsk. That really would have been a shame," the other continued after a moment. Wally could hear in his voice that he was only partly serious though. Still, he couldn't hold back a slightly bitter remark.

"Not considering who sent the postcard it's on…"

He tried his best to continue smiling - acting as if it wouldn't be a big deal. Sure enough he failed at least halfway. The other smiled back at him sympathetically and nodded slowly.

"She…she's your ex, right?"

Wally was a bit surprised about this question. He nodded back nevertheless.

Thinking about it … how much did this guy actually know about him? Probably way more than he had guessed until now. But maybe it wasn't that hard to get a few things after reading those postcards. Wally could only guess. He had never been good at playing detective himself. His friends on the other hand sometimes only looked at him and knew immediately if something was off.

As far as he could tell the other studied his face quite carefully and most likely could read him like an open book. It barely made him feel uncomfortable by now though. It was more like … making him laugh again.

The other looked slightly put off as he suddenly started laughing.

"You know. It's kinda funny and creepy at the same time how you know like everything about me and I don't even know your name," he elaborated cheerfully.

The other smiled back at him - certainly seeing Wally's point.

"I don't know _everything _about you," he defended himself still smiling brightly. "I haven't even know what you look like until a few minutes ago!"

Wally couldn't hold back to laugh at him again. This was just too cute!

"But… I wouldn't mind knowing more about you," the ebony continued way more seriously. He looked Wally straight in the eyes and for the first time Wally noticed that this whole being-exited-to-meet-him could mean something _more_.

"If that includes me getting to know you better, too," he said in a half-hearted flirting attempt. He hadn't thought much about his reply and simply went with the first best thing. He didn't regret it in the slightest as the other laughed happily in return, most likely really in for the flirting.

"Maybe" was the cheeky reply.

Wally did his best to look sad and sulky but his opponent just laughed even louder. He must have failed really badly – he didn't care at all however. This whole conversation was way too enjoyable and cheered him up so much!

When was the last time he couldn't stop smiling like right now?

"I'm Dick. Dick Grayson," the other offered his hand. Wally took it without any hesitation.

Suddenly it hit him and he froze stopping them both from walking on.

What_. Grayson…?_

No. Way!

"Wait," He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about this earlier. This guy was getting his mail. He had been getting someone else's mail. It was so frigging obvious! "Dick, like, in short for Richard?" He still had to ask. He already knew he was right. There couldn't be any other way.

Dick nodded slowly in return looking very confused. "Yeah, why?"

Wally threw his hands up in the air and almost shouted in return. "I was getting some of your mail too, dude!"

The other gaped at him in return.

"What?"

Wally nodded eagerly to show how absolutely unbelievable he found all this himself.

At the same time he started to regret he hadn't brought Dick his mail far earlier…and might have met him and…jeez. This was way too big of a coincidence!

Suddenly the ebony started to laugh and after a second Wally couldn't hold back either. This whole situation was just too hilarious. And … he couldn't deny he thought this was a super romantic way to meet someone, either. It had something … destined.

Thinking about it, maybe it wasn't that bad he hadn't met Dick earlier. He probably wouldn't have been ready to see this opportunity as he saw it currently. Right now he really wanted to give this a proper chance and judging by the way the other looked at him all the time he surely wanted the same.

All of a sudden Wally felt quite confident about facing Artemis and this new boyfriend.

"You know, there is this Christmas party I'm kinda late to," he started and Dick already smirked back at him knowingly. "I didn't want to show up without a date so ... you mind accompanying me?"

He offered his arm and already turned around to walk back to the café – smiling broadly all the time.

Dick laughed cheerfully in return and linked his arm with Wally's.

"Sure," was his short reply and they started to walk back slowly.

"So," he continued after a moment "What did you do with my mail?"

Wally grinned widely and barely held back his laughter.

"Actually, I just dumped them into your mailbox before I went to Central this morning."

He wasn't surprised at all when Dick stopped walking abruptly and gaped at him again.

"You _knew_ where I live?"

He actually snickered in return. So Dick didn't find out his address, for real?

"Well, yeah. Aunt I told me about you getting my mail, so I figured there would be a connection. I simply asked her for your address," he explained as if it was no big deal.

"B-but…!" Dick started and he was obviously at a loss for words. "That's cheating!"

Wally laughed at that and pulled slightly at the ebony's arm to make him move on.

"How's that cheating?" he asked in amusement as they continued their way back to the café.

Dick clutched his arm slightly tighter and didn't move his gaze from Wally – not paying any attention to where they were going.

"You can't just _ask_ for it," he continued eagerly – not looking as serious as he tried to sound. "I not asked for your address purposefully - because it felt wrong. I wanted to find out myself AND it worked in the end, right?"

Wally snickered quietly in return. He tried to take this a bit more serious, but knowing the other wasn't fully severe about this himself didn't help much.

"Well, you don't know my address yet, to be certain…"

Dick snorted and halfheartedly punched his upper arm.

"You really should consider telling me then!"

* * *

><p><em>This turned out way longer than planned, to be honest! xD I wanted to write about as much as for part one of this story and now look at it..almost twice as many words Dx<em>

_Buuut I really wanted to describe what Wally went through and show you guys the big difference to when he (finally) meets Dick aaaaand I hope I got this done well...? :'D_

_Anyways, I really love this story, although it's (only) AU and it was lots of fun to work on it! x3_

_And maybe - just maybe! - I will write more. Depends on if people want me to write more and if I have time for it. (I certainly have more to this story in my head, no worries about that XD) But for now I have 2-3 other YJ-Stories to work on so I will focus on those first._

_Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it! :3_

_Sara~_


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